Mandalay

Mandalay, the capital of Upper Burma, stands 2 miles from the left bank of the Irawadi, a little N. of Amarapura (q.v.), the former capital, and 410 miles by rail (1888) N. of Rangoon. Founded in 1860, it was the capital of independent Burma until its capture by the British in the end of 1885, and since the treaty by which (1886) the king lost his throne it has been the capital of Upper Burma. The city forms a square, each side a mile long, and is surrounded by a wide moat, a crenelated brick wall 26 feet high, and an inner earthen parapet. In the centre of the city stand the royal palaces, constructed principally of teak-wood, and enclosed by three stone walls and a teak-wood stockade. There is little of real interest or beauty in them beyond some rich wood-carving. The most famous building in Mandalay is, however, the Aracan Pagoda; it contains a brazen image of Buddha, 12 feet high, an object of veneration to thousands of pilgrims. Outside these enclosures was, until the British conquest, a crowded, dirty native town, now cleared away to make room for a British cantonment. The present native quarters lie outside the fortified city. Beyond them, again, on the slopes of the hills that border the valley of the Irawadi, are numerous fine monasteries. Pop. (1891) 187,910. Silk-weaving is the most important of the industries; the others are gold and silver work, ivory and wood carving, bell and gong casting, and knife and sword making. In 1886 (as again in March 1892) much damage was done by fire, and by an inundation of the river. In 1886 a meteorological observatory was built.